Flight Simulator X: AccelerationReview

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Are you fast enough to handle Microsoft's high action expansion?

By Steve Butts

We admit it; as much as we love Microsoft's civilian flight sim series, we've often found ourselves lured away by titles that offered less realistic flight models and weaker graphics and tried to fill the gap with machine guns. The Flight Sim community are likely to cry "Heresy!" but it's a fact of consumer culture that commercial aviation titles don't have the eye-catching appeal that explosions and cowls adorned with shark teeth lend to the front a video game box.

But gamers who overlook the prosaic facade of the Flight Simulator series definitely miss out on some experiences that are, in their own way, every bit as thrilling as dogfights and bombing runs. That was particularly true in the recent Flight Simulator X where players could not only undertake some challenging scripted missions, but could also take to the skies together in a vast shared world.

Those features are taken to an exciting new level with the release of Flight Simulator X: Acceleration, a brand new expansion pack that adds loads of new missions, three new must-fly aircraft, and an entirely new multiplayer air race mode. Gamers who weren't enthused about the original game won't find anything here to change their minds, but hardcore Flight Sim fans definitely need to check out what's in store here. It's true that the community has offered up a range of custom assets for the game but the polished offerings found in this thirty-dollar expansion are hard to pass up, even for enthusiasts who have FSInsider as their homepage.

First up, there are two new planes and one new helicopter here. Of the three, the F/A-18 is probably the most exciting. We've had tons of fun trying to get this one safely on and off the decks of carriers at sea and have even spent an idle hour or two taking part in our own Fleet Week as we buzzed over downtown San Francisco in our Blue Angels livery. The Hornet easily outclasses anything else that was in the original game so armchair pilots who really want to get their hands on some powerful hardware will definitely like trying out this new fighter.

Acceleration also includes a fighter from an earlier era, the storied P-51D Mustang. Players will be flying the racing variant here with clipped wings for added maneuverability and a huge boost to horsepower that makes taking the tight turns in Reno a bit easier. While you can get some neat historical perspective by taking this one across the English Channel, it's just as fun to buzz through the streets of Manhattan and race up the side of the Empire State Building.

Purely by personal taste, we're not as excited about the new helicopter but the EH-101 will definitely please fans of rotary flight. Not only is it a top of the line aircraft, but it's also built to serve in a wide variety of roles, from transporting VIPs to moving freight to intercepting aerial smugglers. Personally, we had the most fun just taking tours of places like Washington, DC or the Grand Canyon. As with all the other craft, there are a variety of skins you can use here to invent your own little stories.

If you're imaginationally-challenged, the missions here will help you take part in some interesting scripted stories. There are great challenges here at nearly every level, from simply ferrying the Secretary of Defense around Edwards Air Force Base to landing on the deck of a carrier using only your instruments. But even the easy missions have an interesting twist to them. The Secretary of Defense, for instance, has a bad back, so you can't pull too many Gs while flying around or he'll fire you.

The missions run the gamut from mundane ferry missions to more exciting DEA intercept flights. There are even a few surprises here and there; just try intercepting a UFO over Area 51 to see what we mean. Unfortunately, we didn't really feel like the F/A-18 got as many missions as it deserved, especially considering all the missions that were built around the EH-101. Almost all the Hornet missions involve landing or taking off. Yawn.